Grimgal of Ashes and Illusion - Volume 5 - Chapter 10

10. Not Special

Haruhiro crouched down next to Kikkawa. He didn’t know what to say. He struggled to find the words for a moment, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to say the right thing anyway. That was because Haruhiro was mediocre to the core.

Haruhiro reached out, placing a hand on the other man’s shoulder gently. “Um...” He shook him. “Inui-san?”

“Wha—” Kikkawa looked at Haruhiro, looked at Inui, back to Haruhiro, back to Inui. “...Huh?”

“Heh.” Inui moved his head slightly, looking up at Haruhiro with the eye not covered by an eyepatch. “How did you know...?”

“No, it’s not that I knew,” said Haruhiro. “You were moving slightly. It made me think, ‘Oh, he’s alive.’”

“Whaaaaaaaa?!” Kikkawa half jumped to his feet, landing squarely on his backside. “No, no, no waysies?! I was, like, sure you were dead...”

“H-He’s alive...?” Kuzaku sounded doubtful.

“The guy’s talking, so he’s gotta be...” Even Ranta sounded appalled.

“I thought he’d bit the... I mean, passed away, too...” Shihoru muttered bitterly.

“Yeah...” Merry nodded.

“Hey.” Yume’s eyes were wide. “That’s true, but, y’know. Inuin’s just real good at it, huh. Playin’ dead.”

“Huh...” Tada kicked the ground. His shoulders were still heaving with each breath. “You. Think. He’d. Go. Down. So. Easy. Huh?!”

“Heh...” Inui grunted, like usual. “It is the secret ultimate technique of my one-eyed fighting style, Dokuganryu... ‘Dying Inui, Making Living Idiots Run.’”

“So, basically, you were just playing dead?!” Ranta flipped him the bird.

“He’s. One. Stubborn. Bastard...” Tada’s body shook. “Always. Has. Been...”

“Ah...” Haruhiro hurriedly got to his feet. “Ta-Tada-san?!”

Tada fell and turned over.

“Wha, wha, wha, wha, wha?!” Kikkawa wildly gesticulated like a frog as he rushed over to Tada.

Inui tried to rise, but he seemed to be having trouble. “C-Can’t move... Heh...”

Apparently Inui wasn’t unharmed, and had feigned death only as a last resort.

In the end, until Tada, who had passed out with the whites of his eyes showing, came to, and until Inui was able to get up, the party had no choice but to stay put.

“Me and Inui, we were decoys,” Tada told them once he came to, drank some water, and was fully conscious. “It was the only way to protect Anna-san. They got Mimori’s leg, so she couldn’t run. Me and Inui drew the enemies to us, then Tokimune took Anna-san and Mimori to hide somewhere safe. Well, not that anywhere here can be called safe.”

“Then when it comes to where Tokimune went...” Haruhiro held back a sigh, taking a short breath instead. “You don’t know, huh.”

“We can go back to where we split up,” Tada said.

“Good enough.” Haruhiro said that, but he didn’t think it would be enough at all. Still, he needed to calm everyone’s nerves. Tada and Inui might not have been fatally injured, but they were far from being in top fighting shape.

“Man, you’re surprisingly...” Tada began to say, then stopped. “—No. Me and Inui shook off a bunch of enemies. We might run into them on the way there.”

“Those white giants, you mean?” Haruhiro asked.

“Yeah. They’re sluggish, but big. One hit from them would probably kill you.”

“Anything else?” Haruhiro asked.

“After we had Kikkawa run away, a cultist with a sword and shield showed up. You need to watch out for that guy.”

“Heh.” Inui’s lips shook. “One scratch... from his sword... will numb your body. Even if you block, it still... gets you... Heh...”

“Oh?” Ranta suddenly looked serious. “Sounds sweet. That sword. I want it. When we take that guy out, his sword’s mine. Got it?”

“You’re needlessly resilient, you know that?” Tada said. Even he seemed a little put off by Ranta.

“Well, I don’t mind, but...” Haruhiro wasn’t able to hold back a sigh this time. “You take him out yourself, man. Do that, and you can have his sword, or anything else of his that you want.”

“Nice! That’s a promise!” Ranta looked to everyone. “If I kill the guy, I’m taking the sword! Well, even if you guys kill him, I’ll still take it, though! Either way, the sword’s mine! That’s settled!”

Everyone else was in low spirits, but Ranta seemed to have gotten a boost in motivation, so it was probably fine. Or rather, all they could do was leave him to do what he wanted. Though, if Ranta would do them all the favor of dying gloriously as he killed the sword guy, Haruhiro was willing to consider crying for him.

Tada and Inui could walk under their own strength, somehow, but running was out of the question. Merry looked pained by that. It must have been incredibly frustrating for her, as a priest.

The party had to match their speed, which meant they had to go slower. If they were forced to retreat, it would force a difficult decision upon them. But, if that time came, Haruhiro had made his decision.

He’d be sorry—not that that was going to cut it—but he’d still leave Tada and Inui behind. If Kikkawa said he’d stay behind, he could do as he pleased. While Tada and Inui bought time for them, Haruhiro and the others would get out of there.

Of course, it wasn’t something he wanted to do. Haruhiro was praying from the bottom of his heart that they wouldn’t find themselves in that situation. Still, he could pray as fervently as he wanted, but if it was going to happen, it would. If it did, it would be too late to think about it. That was why he’d made the call now, so he’d be ready.

If that time comes, I have to be heartless, Haruhiro told himself. I can do it. I need to believe that. To make myself believe it, and follow through if necessary.

Tada and Haruhiro walked side-by-side, with Kuzaku, Kikkawa, Ranta, Shihoru, Merry, Inui, and Yume following them in that order.

Tada was as bloody as before, but he showed no signs of being in pain or stopping. He was a tenacious guy. It made Haruhiro want to say, You shouldn’t strain yourself, but the situation was what it was. Not straining himself wasn’t going to be an option.

When they proceeded down a path with poor visibility for a while and then turned left, they came to a place where the rubble had formed a sort of roof. Tada went under that roof.

While it might have been called a roof, there was light shining through holes here and there. It wasn’t dark, but it still felt oppressive and suffocating. The rubble sometimes blocked their way, or divided the path, making the layout complex. It was like a maze.

“We shook a number of the cultists in here.” Tada used his index finger to push up his glasses. “They could still be around. Make sure you’re careful.”

“Do you know the way?” Haruhiro asked.

“Sort of, yeah.”

“...Sort of...” Haruhiro muttered.

“Tadacchi’s got a great sense of direction, man,” Kikkawa said cheerfully. “It’s gonna be kay-o, kay-o! Bably-pro! Huh? Was that one hard to get? Probably!”

Haruhiro couldn’t help but think, Saying “probably” in a silly way isn’t going to make anyone feel better, but it was better than having a dispirited Kikkawa. Or is it? I’m iffy on that.

They walked through the maze of rubble, relying on Tada to guide them. They turned left, turned right, and turned around as they walked.

Wait, we turned around?! Haruhiro thought.

“Um, Tada-san,” he began.

“What? Make it quick. I’m busy now.”

“...Okay, I’ll get right to the point then. Are you lost?”

“Me? Get lost?” Tada asked, offended.

“Well... If you aren’t, then that’s fine.”

“You’re absolutely right,” said Tada.

Everyone stopped.

It felt like time itself had stopped. It was so silent that it was almost beautiful.

No, it wasn’t beautiful at all.

“I’m lost.” Tada shouldered his warhammer, a nasty look on his face. “Is there a problem with me getting lost?”

“He’s trying to turn it around on us...” Shihoru muttered in blank amazement.

“That’s not it.” Tada clicked his tongue. “That’s not what I’m doing. I don’t need to turn anything around, so it’s weird for you to say that, you know?”

“Inui-saaaan,” Haruhiro groaned. Arguing with Tada was just going to drive everyone crazy. Haruhiro turned to Inui, who was behind him. “Do you know the way?”

“Heh...” Inui raised two fingers. “There are always two paths...”

“Sure,” Merry said, closing her eyes and looking up to the ceiling.

“Meow...?” Yume gulped in anticipation. “What does that mean?”

“One is to confer with your own heart.” Inui looked off into the distance. “The other, to confer with the wind. The way is always one of these two paths... Heh...”

“Woo!” Kikkawa excitedly thrust a fist into the air. “So cool! Leave it to Inui-san to say something deep! You’re the best! No clue what you mean, though! Ahaha!”

“Our own hearts, huh...” Ranta, being Ranta, seemed to be impressed for some reason. “That’s it. Yeah! That’s what we’ve gotta do! Parupiro! Quit wasting time and do that!”

Haruhiro tried listening to the voice in his own heart, but all it said was I want to punch him, and that didn’t seem like it would help. In other words, this wasn’t the time for listening to his heart. He didn’t feel much wind in the maze of rubble either, and it wasn’t like the wind would actually respond to him anyway. If he started hearing voices on the wind, he’d have to be imagining them.

What he did hear wasn’t the wind at all, and he wasn’t imagining it.

Clack... Clack... Clack...

It was the sound of two hard objects striking one another.

Before Haruhiro could issue a warning, it leapt out from around the corner up ahead.

“Cultist!” Haruhiro shouted.

No, this wasn’t just any cultist. Instead of a spear, this one had a mirror-like shield and a sword with a slightly purplish aura around it. That clack, clack, sound was apparently coming from the sheathe sticking out from under the cultist’s coat. That was the sound it made when hitting the rubble.

“It just had to be you, huh!” Tada yelled.

Tada swung down his warhammer, but the sword bearer blocked it with his shield. The sword bearer thrust out his sword. Tada leapt out of the way, of course, but he couldn’t brace himself when he landed and lost his balance. Haruhiro wanted to cover him. But the enemy had a shield. He couldn’t do it himself.

“I’ve got this!” Kikkawa literally jumped at the sword bearer. He jumped into the air, then swung down at him from above.

The sword bearer caught Kikkawa’s bastard sword with his shield. Without missing a beat, he thrust at him, too. It was the same way he’d attacked Tada. Kikkawa seemed to have anticipated it, because he deftly swept the sword bearer’s sword away with the part of the blade closest to the hilt on his bastard sword.

Zong! There was an unpleasant sound.

“The... hell...?!” Kikkawa’s whole body trembled and he almost dropped his bastard sword. Even though he didn’t actually drop his weapon, he was still wide open.

The sword bearer thrust at him again. Kikkawa couldn’t dodge. He couldn’t block with his bastard sword, either. It bit into him. The left side of his chest.

“Oof!” Kikkawa trembled again, then was knocked to the ground. As befitted a warrior, Kikkawa was wearing plate armor. The sword didn’t manage to run him through, but it left a serious dent.

“Urkh... Kikkawaaaaa!” Tada got back into a fighting stance and swung down his warhammer. He attacked. Attacked unrelentingly.

While the sword bearer was defending himself from Tada’s warhammer, the rest of the party got into position to attack.

“I’ll go up front!” Kuzaku called. He defended himself with his shield as he took Tada’s place.

“The sword! The sword! The sword! The sword!” Ranta hollered. He looked like he planned to position himself to the left side, where the hand the sword bearer held his shield was.

Haruhiro went to take up position behind and to the right—or started to, before he reconsidered.

“Haru!” Merry called.

He turned back.

Behind us, huh, he thought. There are more coming from behind. Cultists. Those ones are lance bearers, so they look like ordinary cultists. But it isn’t just one. There are two—no, three of them.

This is bad. Beyond bad. We could take four lance bearers, but the sword bearer’s here, and he’s dangerous. They’re trying to catch us in a pincer, so we can’t ditch Tada and Inui and run. Huh? Am I out of moves?

Though it was only for a moment, Haruhiro was ashamed to admit his thinking had almost frozen up.

“Ohm, rel, ect, el, krom, darsh!” Shihoru began to chant as she drew elemental sigils with the tip of her staff. A black mist-like shadow elemental erupted from her staff and didn’t so much fly as drift towards the new enemies.

It was Sleepy Shadow—only not. This was the upgraded version, Shadow Mist.

The black mist was entering the cultists’ garments as if it were being sucked in through their eyeholes, sleeves, and hems.

But, will it work? Haruhiro wondered. Shadow Mist, like Sleepy Shadow, induces an intense sleepiness in the target. In other words, it’s a sleep spell. But, when the enemy knows it’s coming, it’s not as effective. Unless they don’t know we’re here, or don’t think they’ll be hit by magic, it’s hard to put them to sleep. That’s why its use is limited. Like now, when we’re the ones being attacked, it’s the sort of spell that’s basically useless. Shihoru, of course, probably knows that. Actually, she should know it better than anyone.

And yet, Shihoru deliberately chose Shadow Mist. It’s not like Shihoru, but maybe she’s taking a big gamble.

The cultists stumbled, then dropped one after another.

“It’s because Shadow Echo was really effective...” Shihoru bowed her head for some reason. “I’m sorry! That’s why... I thought they might be weak against Darsh Magic!”

“No?! Y-You don’t need to apologize for that, do you?!” Haruhiro’s voice cracked a little. “That’s amazing, Shihoru! You’re a model mage! You really saved us there!”

“S-Stop it...” Shihoru shrunk into herself. “It was almost a total coincidence...”

“Heh...” Inui adjusted his eyepatch, without a care in the world. “She’s a good woman...”

She is, but, no—Seriously, could you not be so random? I want to protest. Haruhiro was feeling peeved.

It was questionable whether Haruhiro had any right to say something like, Keep your hands off our precious mage. I’d never let a ridiculous guy like you have her. I won’t accept it. He didn’t think that he did, but he still felt that way. But, of course, this wasn’t the time. He wanted to shut Inui down, but it would have to wait.

“Yume! Inui-san! Finish off the cultists before they can wake up!” Haruhiro called. “Tada-san, Kuzaku, Ranta, keep the sword bearer busy! Kikkawa, you okay?!”

“Y-Yeah, somehow!” Kikkawa called. “It hurts, but that’s all, I guess?!”

“Okay!” Haruhiro ran forward, attacking one of the cultists that was collapsed in the pile of them.

The minimum, he thought. I need to take them down in the minimum time possible. This has got to be the spot. It’s the only one.

The hole.

He jammed his dagger as hard as he could into the single eyehole. He twisted and pulled, then stabbed in again.

“Meow-ow!” Yume stabbed her machete into another cultist’s eyehole.

“Heh!” Inui did, too.

“Don’t—” Haruhiro straddled his cultist and stabbed him again. “—let your guards down! Until they stop moving—make sure they’re good and dead!”

Four times. Five times.

The cultist’s limp. Doesn’t look like he’ll be getting up again. He’s dead. I killed him.

“This thing.” Yume held up one of the spears the cultists had been holding. “Maybe, do you think it could be useful?”

Haruhiro put his dagger away, nodding, then picked up the spear from the cultist he had killed. Inui smirked, sheathing his sword and picking up a spear.

Kuzaku and the others are struggling even when it’s three against one, Haruhiro thought. Because of the sword bearer’s sword. It’s a nasty one to deal with. It’s hard for Shihoru to use her magic, too, because we’d be in trouble if she hit one of them.

Well, what about six against one, then?

Haruhiro and Yume, along with Inui, attacked the sword bearer with spears from behind Kuzaku and the others. When the sword bearer blocked the spears with his sword, zong, there was an incredible shock that made their brains tremble. But Kuzaku and the others were in front of them, and the spears were long, so there was no real fear of a counterattack.

Even as Haruhiro and the others slowly whittled him down, the sword bearer put up a good fight. It wasn’t just that he had a sword and shield in place of a spear. He was probably on a higher level than the ordinary cultists. His easy, fluid movements betrayed no openings, and the way he used his sword and shield was good, too. He was far better at it than Kuzaku, the paladin.

Though, that said, it was six-on-one. The party had a lot of leeway in what they could do, while the sword bearer couldn’t drop his guard for a second. Also, Haruhiro, as was his nature as a thief, was watching vigilantly for any opportunity.

That hazy, shining line is something anyone can see, he thought. To be blunt, it’s just a matter of probability. If they do the same thing one hundred, one thousand, ten thousand times, anyone would get better at it. They’d start to see paths that made them say, “If I do this, I’ll succeed.” In a given situation, with certain conditions, a path that they’re confident leads to success will naturally emerge. Could they see that path in a certain form—a line, for instance, once every hundred times, every thousand times, every ten thousand times? Either way, it’s a matter of probability.

The only way to raise the probability is to increase the number of trials. Even if the probability doesn’t rise, the more trials there are, the more successes there will be.

Visualize, and continue to take aim. Keep at it, with a sort of indifference, but tenaciously nonetheless.

When I’m taking aim, there’s something that looks like a chance every few seconds. I need to accurately judge which of those is a real chance.

Even if it’s not a special or unique skill, if I just keep doing this for a while, sometimes I’ll see that line.

—Look. There it is.

Next time I see it, I can’t hesitate. There’s no need to think. No need for fear. Just do it. Follow through.

Haruhiro grappled the sword bearer from behind, jabbing the dagger that he was holding with a backhand grip into the eyehole. He pulled it free, then immediately jumped away.

The sword bearer tried to turn around, but Ranta and Kuzaku, along with Tada, all whaled on him and knocked him to the ground.

“Oohohohoo!” Ranta whooped gleefully as he tried to go in for the kill.

“Out of the way, you monkey. Eat—” Tada pushed Ranta aside, winding back with his warhammer before smashing it into the sword bearer’s head. “—this!”

He crushed it.

Haruhiro quickly glanced in all directions. They’d taken out all of the cultists. For the moment, it didn’t look like any more reinforcements were coming.

Haruhiro must have had sleepy eyes right now. Like always.

That’s fine with me, he thought.

“Good work, guys,” he said. “Let’s move on quickly. Kikkawa, you can move, right?”

“I can... yeah?” Kikkawa was swinging his arm to test that it still worked, and he was on his feet, so, well, he was probably fine. “But can’t you be more... I dunno. Nah, that may just be how you are, Harucchi, but when we absolutely nail it like that, doesn’t it get you excited? Like, don’t you want to shout out ‘Hurrah!’?”

“Hurrah.”

“Man, that’s the most emotionless yippee I’ve ever heard!” Kikkawa complained. “It’s, like, an ultra-rare hurrah, don’t you think?!”

“This is what he’s like. Boring! That’s what he is!” Ranta snatched that special sword out of the sword bearer’s hands. “Hyuk hyuk hyuk! I got me a sword! For the tingling paralysis you cause when you hit, I christen you Lightning Sword Dolphin! Yay! Yes! Yes! Yes!”

“Lightning Sword Dolphin, huh.” Tada pushed up his glasses with his index finger. “That’s pretty good.”

“I don’t think it’s good,” Shihoru muttered.

“What’s not to like?!” Ranta rounded on Shihoru.

“A dolphin’s an aquatic mammal, right?” Merry said looking at Ranta with contempt. “No matter how you look at it, it’s weird.”

“Huh?! Who decided dolphin has to mean an aquatic mammal?!” Ranta shouted “In my head, dolphin’s just categorized as a cool word, so Lightning Sword Dolphin is cool! Bam! How do you like that?!”

“Whatever,” Haruhiro said. “Let’s just go.”

“You need to give me more attention, Parupiroooo!”

“Nah, man. I’m boring. I can’t.”

“Fine, I take it back! You’re funny!” Ranta hollered. “Now give me attention! Give me attention, please!”

“You’re such a pain,” Haruhiro muttered. “‘Pay attention to me, pay attention to me’... what, are you in love with me or something, man?”

“Th-There’s no way I’d be in love with you, is there?! You moroooon!” Ranta screamed.

“Ahh.” Yume smirked. “Your face’s gone all red. That’s kiiiinda suspicious, y’know.”

“I’m not turning red! Hold on, my helmet’s visor is down! You can’t even see my face to tell!”

“Was just sayin’ it to get a reaction,” smirked Yume. “The way you’re protestin’, though, that’s suspicious, too, huh?”

“...Um.” Kuzaku raised his visor and gestured up ahead with his eyes. “Seriously, isn’t it time we move on?”

“Heh...” Inui offered his hand to Shihoru. “If you like, how about I escort you?”

“No.” Shihoru backed away, shaking her head. “I’m fine, thanks. Besides, you’re half-dead, anyway...”

Inui collapsed on the spot, and he didn’t try to get back up for a while.